Nuveen Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT - Free Report) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,130,604 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 260,740 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.46% of Uniti Group worth $6,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Uniti Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,344,312 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,394,000 after acquiring an additional 51,241 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,937,013 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $43,654,000 after purchasing an additional 62,377 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 255,119 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,397 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Uniti Group by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 589,789 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,244,000 after purchasing an additional 49,537 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Uniti Group during the 4th quarter worth $2,418,000. 87.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on UNIT shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $5.30 target price on shares of Uniti Group in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James raised Uniti Group from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $6.00 to $8.00 in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Uniti Group from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Uniti Group Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ UNIT traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.32. 1,177,507 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,497,431. Uniti Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $2.57 and a 12-month high of $6.31. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 1.59. The business's fifty day moving average price is $4.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.21.

Uniti Group (NASDAQ:UNIT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The company had revenue of $293.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $295.39 million. Uniti Group had a negative return on equity of 4.12% and a net margin of 8.82%. Uniti Group's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Uniti Group Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Uniti Group Company Profile

Uniti Group, Inc is a real estate investment trust company, which engages in the acquisition, construction, and leasing of properties. It operates through the following business segments: Uniti Leasing, Uniti Fiber, and Corporate. The Uniti Leasing segment involves mission-critical communications assets on exclusive or shared-tenant basis, and dark fiber network.